Challenges of the Music Industry in Serbia

We strive to make each event better than the last

In the last few years, there has been a noticeable boom in event tourism, and today Serbia is the regional centre of music production. We spoke with the owner and founder of Skymusic, Milenko Škarić, about the challenges that the music industry in our country faces, how difficult it is to organize large-scale production events and which music genre is considered the future.

Skymusic’s portfolio includes the most prestigious music festivals in our country - Exit, Beer Fest, Music Week and Guča Trumpet Festival. Is event tourism finally blooming in our country?

For sure! The events you mentioned gather hundreds of thousands of visitors from the country and abroad each year, and they definitely contributed to the development of event tourism.

This is why the Music Awards Ceremony (MAC), Belgrade Beer Fest, Belgrade Music Week and Classico were declared events of importance by the Belgrade government and this is something I am very grateful to the city authorities. Speaking about the beginnings, Exit somehow opened the door to event tourism, from its humble beginnings in 2000, to eventually growing al stars, and had over 350,000 visitors, which is a huge success after the festival had to be drastically scaled down during the pandemic years. The number of visitors to Music Week has been growing year-on-year, and as a very young festival, which was held only four times so far, it had more than 250,000 visitors last time, both from the country and region. Guča Trum- to the level it deserves, thanks to an excellent programme and the most advanced audio-visual production. into one of the best and biggest European festivals visited by several million people from more than a hundred countries. Belgrade Beer Fest, which also has a long tradition, will celebrate its 20th edition this year, and this will be the second year that Skymusic is in charge of organizing and holding the festival, together with the Belgrade authorities. Last year, Belgrade Beer Fest played host to numerous domestic, regional and glob- pet Festival has the longest tradition out of all mentioned festivals, and last year, it took place for the 61st time. For the first time, Skymusic was one of the organizers and our task was to restore Guča to its former glory. I think we succeeded to a large extent in this since over 100,000 people visited the festival. This is the highest number of visitors in the last decade and a half, and I am proud to say that we have succeeded in raising Guča

The regional music award event, Music Awards Ceremony (AMC), is one of the events that you are the proudest of. You must have encountered various challenges when implementing such a large project. What makes this event unique and how difficult is it to organize a project of this scale in Serbia?

Music Awards Ceremony is an event that thanks to music, united all the republics of the former Yugoslavia and brought together the most outstanding regional performers, from different musical genres, on the same stage. MAC gathered the seemingly incompatible musicians while hosting a glamorous awards show with spectacular performances from the region’s biggest music stars. When you add to that the stateof-the-art stage and audio-visual production, you get the biggest regional music event, which rightly belongs to the group of the biggest European and world events. MAC received seven international recognitions for its first two editions - Best Ceremony, Best European Event, Excellence In Brand Strategy and Creation, Brand Communication - Brand Events, Live Show, Set Design Supplier, Audiovisual Supplier and Best Musical Event. This year, we organized MAC for the third time which, if we considered all relevant parameters, has set new standards in the entertainment industry, not only in this part of Europe but also much wider. We really try to make each next edition better than the last, and I’m glad we’ve succeeded in this every time. This is something that both performers and audiences recognize. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the people who participated in the months-long organization of MAC, where everyone worked extremely professionally and with great responsibility, and thus made a huge contribution to this project.

Like many others, the music industry has seen its ups and downs in the past two years. How difficult is it to work in the music industry in Serbia today and how do you keep up with the changes?

The pandemic has strongly affected the music industry, and I’m not only referring to the performers, but also to the technical staff without whom it is impossible to realize even the smallest event. In less than a year, the situation has slowly restored to its previous state, but surviving during the COVID pandemic was a big challenge. That’s why, during the pandemic, Skymusic focused on video production, television shows and recording videos, films and series. Also, we recently launched our cable TV channel called Skymusic Entertainment (SE), the Sky Academy educational platform and the most innovative ticketing serviceefinity.rs.

It is noticeable that big global showbiz stars have been bypassing Belgrade lately. What is the reason for this? Are they production restrictions in place, is the lower living standard of people in Serbia to blame or is it something else?

Trying to organize a concert for a global music star is an extremely expensive undertaking and often unprofitable since it often turns out to be impossible to cover all the costs of the organization. This brings the issue of ticket prices to the forefront, which, in the case of global stars, would be too high in relation to the purchasing power of our citizens.

Which music genre is the future? What will music be like in 20 years?

I think that every music genre has its own future, with smaller or bigger adjustments to market trends. In recent years, we have seen the expansion of new musical trends in Serbia, and I am primarily referring to trap and drill. However, this does not mean that pop and rock are extinct. The same trends are in the rest of the world. We are witnessing the hyperproduction of all types of content, including music, while platforms such as YouTube, Spotify and even Tik-Tok play a crucial role in this today, as they facilitate that content reaches a large number of users in a very short time interval. I believe that this trend will continue in the future and that the way of distribution and consumption will determine its future. I certainly expect that the greatest progress will occur in the field of multimedia interpretation.

Also, world-famous performers prefer to choose other concert destinations in the region, such as Zagreb and Budapest, that is, they usually presume that having a concert in Belgrade would mean a half-empty venue, and hence would not generate them the income that they would certainly manage to earn in another town in one of the neighbouring countries.

Last year’s Eurovision Song Contest aroused great public interest. There was talk about the songs and performances, but special attention was also paid to the stage, the creativity of the performances, production and technical standards. Skymusic was one of the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation’s partners in organizing this event. Will it be the same this year and how do you see our country’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest?

During its almost 30 years of operations, and thanks to numerous projects, Skymusic has validated its regional leadership position in organizing and technically producing largescale events in this part of Europe. We devote equal attention to every project and this is the reason why we are recognized as a reliable partner and the first choice for organizing the most diverse types of events. Skymusic has had long-term and fruitful cooperation with the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS), so organising the competition for Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest was in some way expected. This does not mean that the project was easy to implement, on the contrary. Production had to be adapted to the performance of each contestant and meet very high technical standards. It makes me proud to say that we have successfully responded to each task. Skymusic has also contributed to the modernization of the Eurovision Song Contest, which not only reflected on the competition’s technical segment, but also on the musicians that were competing and the performed songs. We are very glad that our company was part of the revival of this prestigious event, and we are honoured to be at the same place again this year, with the mission to raise the level in terms of organizing, technically producing and implementing the competition for the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Regarding our country’s participation in the contest, I believe that we have top-quality performers and that our candidate will be noticed, regardless of who will be chosen to represent us.

Since the beginning of its operations in Serbia, the company Lidl Serbia has taken care of the preservation of the environment, which is achieved, among other things, through various resource-saving measures, whose effectiveness is confirmed by the internationally recognized EDGE and LEED certificates. The energy management system with a series of measures to reduce energy consumption (ISO 50001) is just one of the ways that enable Lidl to save over 6,850 MWh of energy per year, which is enough for the twelve-month consumption of over 1,000 households in Serbia.

Coca-Cola HBC named World’s most sustainable beverage company again

The 2022 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, one of the world’s leading global sustainability benchmarks, has ranked Coca-Cola HBC as the world’s most sustainable beverage company after its score improved by six points last year to a record 93 out of 100. It is the 12th consecutive year that Coca-Cola HBC, with Coca-Cola HBC Serbia as its member, has featured among the top three performers, and the sixth time it has been named the industry leader. “Our goal is to deliver a more sustainable future while continuing to build value for our stakeholders,” said Coca-Cola HBC Group CEO, Zoran Bogdanovic.

UniCredit - Top Employer Europe for 2023

The 2023 Top Employers have been announced, and UniCredit has been recognised as a Top Employer in Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Serbia. Being certified as a Top Employer showcases an organisation’s dedication to a better world of work and exhibits this through excellent HR policies and people practices. The Top Employers Institute programme certifies organisations based on the participation and results of their HR Best Practices Survey. This survey covers six HR domains consisting of 20 topics, including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, well-being, and more. Being certified as a Top Employer showcases an organisation’s dedication to a better world of work and exhibits this through excellent HR policies and people practices.

MT-KOMEX is building a solar power plant for NURDOR

The MT-KOMEX Company, a pioneer in solar power plant construction projects in Serbia, will donate a solar power plant to the NURDOR association to mark the company’s 30th anniversary. During three decades of business, MT-KOMEX has built and supplied equipment for a large number of ground and roof solar power plants, with a total installed power of 60MW. They supplemented their turn towards innovation and renewable energy sources with a new segment by expanding their business to develop a network of chargers for electric cars. As a socially responsible company, MT-KOMEX works regularly on promoting renewable energy sources and projects in this segment while paying special attention to environmental protection.

Drugstore chain dm has launched the mobile app

The drugstore chain dm drogerie markt launched the mobile app named “Moj dm”, which made online shopping even simpler. The mobile version of the recently launched online store allows a simple overview of the wide range of selections and ordering of favorite products from anywhere, at any time, and through just a few clicks on the smartphone screen. The advantages of using the new service offered by dm were presented at an event that gathered a large number of media and influencers. The application Moj dm provides a personalized approach to shopping that is an upgrade to the news and benefits offered by the largest drug store chain in Europe.

Rakuten Viber introduced exceptional new functionalities of super-apps

Viber introduces Business Inbox and Commercial Accounts to improve user experience and increase brand presence on the platform while still protecting its users from fraudsters. Rakuten Viber, the global leader in private and secure messaging and voice-based communication, announces two major launches worldwide as a new stage in the evolution of brand-user interaction on the app. The new offerings include a Business Inbox and a searchable Commercial Account, which will become the next step in Viber’s long-term super app strategy. The two features are available globally, including in Serbia, starting January 23, 2023.

IKEA and Sabine Marcelis launch the VARMBLIXT collection

IKEA and Rotterdam-based designer Sabine Marcelis launch the VARMBLIXT collection, which highlights sculptural lighting objects, unique serve ware, vibrant rugs, and more. The 20-product collection which is designed to interact with both direct and indirect light, with sales starting this February.

The VARMBLIXT collection marks the beginning of the IKEA journey to strengthen people’s curiosity connected to lighting in the home. As part of a long-term goal, IKEA is looking to encourage a shift in the perception of lighting as simply functional to lighting as emotional. It is designed to inspire a new interest in how light can transform the look, feel, and atmosphere of our homes.